Archives

Monthly Archives: September 2018

Post navigation

Times Flies. I was in Leadership Detroit ll or class 2 , 38 years ago? Come on!

I am a proud recipient of the “lifetime achievement award” from Leadership Detroit in 2011 and am grateful for the contacts and friendships I made early in my career across city-suburban, race, ethnicity, professional backgrounds in the nonprofit, government and private sectors. Many remain friends to this day. In fact one of the strengths of this Chamber leadership program is the enduring personal and professional relationships that continue far beyond graduation. It is like joining a sorority or fraternity – without the hazing!

Leadership Detroit was launched in 1979 under the leadership of Frank Smith, the Detroit Regional Chamber CEO, and today is a vibrant community leadership program for executives in Southeast Michigan, with nearly 2,000 alumni. The program aims to create awareness of key issues that affect the Detroit region and to challenge emerging and existing community leaders to bring about positive change in the community through informed leadership.

It’s able Chamber staff leader, Dan Piepszowski, Senior Director, Community Leadership Development Detroit Regional Chamber (LD XVII) is as passionate about the leadership development program as he is to the enrichment and advancement of the entire SE Michigan region. He is the ultimate cheerleader for the program and engaging the rich tapestry of people and talent that make up our city and region.

Like the leaders that came before him, Dan is energetic, dynamic, and committed to adding value and making a lasting and positive difference.

Dan captures the essence of Leadership Detroit explaining, “The Leadership Detroit experience takes executives out of their comfort zones to challenge long-held assumptions and to embrace multiple and diverse perspectives on quality of life issues in the Detroit region and Michigan. These leaders have proven that change is possible when passion, commitment, and courage coalesce to change our understanding and expectations of what is possible.”

Leadership Matters!

Some, and by no means not all of the distinguished alumni include:

N. Charles Anderson, President and CEO, Urban League of Detroit and Southeastern Michigan, Inc.

Daniel Varner, President and CEO, Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit

The reviews are high from people who have participated in Leadership Detroit:

“‘Before you lead, learn.’ That is an adage that I’ve come to respect. Leadership Detroit has been a process of learning. We have become more aware of local and state issues and resources that will make us more effective, connected and prepared leaders.” -LaNesha DeBardelaben, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History; Leadership Detroit Class XXXVIII

“This opportunity was able to pack a lifetime of experiences into just a few short programs. This experience has allowed me to look past my own biases and challenge what assumptions I have made throughout my life.” -Kevin Zeleji, Barton Marlow Company; Leadership Detroit Class XXXIX

There is also a sense of excitement from the new class LD 40 as they begin their journey.

Carol Zuniga, Executive Director Hegira Health, Inc. exclaimed, “The anticipation of the 2-day Leadership Detroit Class XL orientation at Camp Tamarack this past week was palpable. Dan Piepszowski, his team from the Detroit Regional Chamber and the contributions from several exceptional LD XXXIX class members, reinforced the pride, excitement and appreciation for the journey.

She continues, “The 2-day orientation was a matchless and amazing experience to share with a group of 70 strangers. After two days of introspection and engagement with this diverse, remarkably talented, confident and driven group of professional men and women, what united this group of mostly strangers became exceptionally clear; the self-derived expectation that each one of us is here to make a difference and that embarking on this journey called LD XL, will provide the platform from which we will each find our way to impact the region, our communities and the people for whom we care so deeply.”

Value Added

“For 40 years, the Detroit Regional Chamber has led one of the nation’s oldest and most respected leadership development programs,” said Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber. “Leadership Detroit has had a hand in shaping the Detroit region’s top talent and providing them a network of more than 2,000 alumni to connect with. We are proud of the program and the change that has spurred from this network of individuals.”

In recognition of the 40th anniversary , the Chamber is hosting a Fall Legacy Celebration on Oct. 25th at Cliff Bell’s that will focus on supporting the LD scholarship fund to help encourage a diverse class of participants. Please consider attending or contributing — because we all know, leadership comes in all shapes, color, ethnicity and sizes and it truly matters!

Want to learn more about leadership Detroit and how to nominate someone to join the mountain of people that call themselves alum go to their website: www.leadershipdetroit.com

Leadership Matters. The Detroit Regional Chamber has helped set the table for leadership development in ways that continue to add value and make a difference. Thank you Detroit Regional Chamber.

When investor Chris Thomas, co-founder Detroit Mobility Lab talks about mobility, he’s referring to autonomous vehicles. But he’s also talking about the technology’s potential to move people forward in their careers.

And, along with it, the city of Detroit.

But first, before Detroit can be a true center of artificial intelligence, robotics, and mobility, the region needs the complete ecosystem, and that begins with education and a true center for mobility training in Detroit proper, he says.

Thomas is helping to spearhead a push for an Institute for Mobility and Artificial Intelligence in the city of Detroit. And while there are no plans for a groundbreaking anytime soon, it’s an idea that is gaining momentum. It’s part of what Thomas calls a necessity for a “virtuous cycle” in Detroit, where people can be trained here, work here, launch companies here, and raise their families here.

“If we’re going to compete in the future of manufacturing, in the future of automotive, in the future of mobility we also need to focus on building the ecosystem,” Thomas says. “We need to have that whole value chain, that whole food chain here in Detroit if we’re going to compete globally. I believe we can and will. That type of institute, in my opinion, is exactly the type we need.”

Too many qualified people have left, and a partnership between the academic and private sector is needed in order to make Detroit itself the center of a new ecosystem. As an example, Thomas discusses a mobility software company Fontinalis invested in called nuTonomy, an MIT spinout that last year was sold to Aptiv, Delphi’s mobility division. The company’s founder, Karl Iagnemma, was originally from Michigan. Yet he needed to go to Boston to develop his technology. “We’ve got to have the ability to make sure [native Michiganders] can achieve their dreams here at home,” Thomas says.

Many of the mobility startups he’s invested in on the East Coast and West Coast have Michigan connections. The founders were born here, went to school here, but they’re not building their companies and raising their families here. Thomas said he needed to go to San Francisco first to develop the skills he needed before returning to Detroit.

“What we need to do is make sure that there is a pathway for individuals who are leading the way when it comes to innovation in these sectors to come here early on in their careers or in their lives and stay here.”

For a brief time, a half-finished jail site along Gratiot near Greektown was under consideration, but that will likely be used by Dan Gilbert for major league soccer. Thomas believes that while the region can be involved, and partnerships with local universities such as Lawrence Tech, Wayne State, and CCS should be included, it all needs to be focused on Detroit proper. “I’m a huge believer in the necessity of actually making Detroit the center of that ecosystem. And by Detroit, I mean the city of Detroit.”

Right now, he says, many sidebar discussions are going on with possible stakeholders and people who believe strongly in the mission. “I think that there’s a concrete realization that this is something that we should and need to do.” Thomas says he’ll be at the Mackinac Policy Conference at the end of May, pushing the idea.

To him, just planning a mobility training center is bringing together a younger generation of Detroit leaders, those in their 30s and 40s.

“Detroit’s past and present have positioned it perfectly to drive the future of mobility,” Thomas says.”What happens next is a matter of will, and what I hope very much is that we, as a community, have the will to come together and say that this is something that’s important to us.”

The city of tomorrow, where public, private and shared mobility services are interconnected to more efficiently and sustainably move people and goods, lies years down the road, but Detroit automakers already are paving the way.

“It is a time of tremendous change,” said Jessica Robinson, director of City Solutions at Ford Motor Company.

Advancements in autonomous and electric vehicles are occurring every day as the industry transforms from traditional automaker to personal mobility provider. Meanwhile, ride-hailing and car-sharing services are rapidly expanding and very shortly cars will communicate with each other and a city’s infrastructure. At the same time, however, the global population is skyrocketing, especially in urban areas already suffocating under transportation congestion.

Robinson’s group is a one-of-a-kind unit within the industry tasked with addressing urban-environment issues and developing mobility solutions for congested cities. The group has delivered numerous innovations, although a key element of its early work has been reaching out to city leaders around the world to get a firsthand look at the mobility challenges facing urban centers.

“We can’t build more streets,” Robinson said. “So how do we move more people and more goods? The way to do that is greater orchestration.”

In New York, for example, traffic speed in Manhattan’s midtown area has fallen 20 percent in the last 10 years to 4.7 mph. And despite the litany of public transit options, vehicle ownership in outer boroughs such as Brooklyn remain a relatively robust 40 percent.

Ford’s Chariot startup was an early answer for New York. The on-demand ride-sharing service employs Ford Transit vans and shuttles up to 14 passengers along commuter routes. Vans take up the footprint of one and-a-half vehicles and complement existing public transit routes as a first- and last mile option for commuters. The company crowd sources rider data, too, so Chariot can service the right places at the right time.

“Microtransit fits into an industry middle ground between high-quality public transit and driving yourself, or walking,” Robinson said. “It enhances peoples’ ability to get around, brings efficiency with the shared piece and is responsive to demand.”

Chariot has expanded into eight other cities, including San Francisco, Austin and Seattle. Ford also recently began a public bicycle sharing service in collaboration with San Francisco’s transit authority. Ford GoBike launched in 2013 with 700 bikes available across 70 stations. Later this year, the automaker expects to provide 7,000 bikes.

Ford GoDrive is another experiment. It is a one-way car-sharing service in London, England. Parking is guaranteed and riders pay as they go, reserving and accessing cars with a smartphone app.

General Motors is working on several initiatives, including its Maven car-sharing unit. Maven offers GM cars and trucks for hourly, daily and weekly use targeting everyday people, residential communities, commercial entities, and the gig economy, an exploding network of drivers providing mobility services in urban areas under short-term contracts.

Launched in New York and Ann Arbor just over 18 months ago, Maven has expanded into nearly every major U.S. metropolitan market with 10,000 vehicles having logged 170 million miles.

Peter Kosak, executive director of Urban Mobility at GM, said Maven Gig is an example of how new forms of mobility satisfy changing consumer demands, generate jobs, and provide transportation to underserved populations. And with thousands of units of the Chevrolet Bolt, Maven Gig is slashing emissions and giving civic leaders critical insight to building future electric vehicle charging stations.

Seasoned automotive journalist and 2018 Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame inductee John McElroy opened the MICHauto’s annual Mackinac Policy Conference roundtable event with a dynamic presentation kicked off by a bold statement: the future of autonomous vehicles has already started.

“Let’s define what we are talking about. Level 5, I agree, is not around the corner, but Waymo offers fully autonomous rides for those who sign up, and nuTonomy is operational in Singapore,” says McElroy to a room packed with automotive professionals gathered in the Grand Pavilion at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

Critics will point out that the technology just isn’t ready yet, says McElroy. “Any kind of accident involving AVs makes not only national headlines, but headlines around the world. Fender benders made national news, and surveys show the American public is very leery of AVs,” he says. “This is a country that used to embrace technology, that was a leader in technology, and now we are afraid.”

Fears, however, are quelled through exposure. When SAE connected individuals with AVs for a trial run in Florida, 85 percent walked away so confident of the technology, they said they’d put their kids in a self-driving car. This was the same group that previously said they did not believe autonomous technology was ready.

McElroy deftly compared autonomous vehicle technology to public fears of flying in the 1920s. “PanAm learned that some were afraid of flying, and others were not. Today, just a small minority of people will not get in a plane,” he says, adding that headlines report tragedies that come from companies that are cutting corners to rush to the market first. Michigan’s rich and longstanding expertise in innovating, designing, and manufacturing safe and reliable vehicles puts our state ahead in the autonomous vehicle market.

As we move toward immensely popular car sharing and ride sharing models, how will this business change affect OEMs?

“One theory is that when vehicles log 80 to 100,000 miles in a year, they will wear out faster and require quicker replacement,” says McElroy. “I don’t believe this. If I’m a fleet owner, and want to operate a fleet of autonomous ride or car sharing services, I don’t want a car designed to last just 150,000 miles. The London cab is a good example of a purpose-built vehicle. Forty percent of all London cabs are 10 to 15 years old.”

Experts are split on their predictions regarding the impact of self-driving cars on the automotive industry itself. Some say more miles will be traveled, putting more cars will be on the road; others predict that one ride-sharing car will obviate the need for 15 vehicles.

“Barclays has predicted that by 2040, GM will cut their manufacturing footprint by 68 percent, and Ford will cut by 58 percent,” McElroy shares. “We can argue that this is an extremist view. I don’t agree with their timeframe but I do agree with the conclusion. We are moving to a future where we won’t need as many vehicles.”

A call to action for Michigan

McElroy’s call to action for Michigan, for the automotive industry, and for the country is to fight to keep what we have, yes, but to do more, as well.

“We need more testing on Michigan roads. We need to get citizenry on board for the future. We need to be brutally honest about fatalities and about job losses. We need to get the public exposed to the technology, really show them what is going on. And we need to expose the country to it too,” McElroy says.

But how do we get there? Creating a startup culture in Michigan is a great start, says McElroy.

“We need a convergence that starts with venture capital money. This is how Silicon Valley works,” McElroy says. “We have a lot of bright people here, we have the best research universities, we have a collection of the best R&D facilities in the world, mostly automotive. But we don’t have the kind of VC money, even the mindset of ‘hey, I have a great idea, I’m going to slap a plan together and go after these people for some seed money.’ We have got little bits of it, and it is growing a little bit, but we are not in the game in this state.”

The value of that startup culture, in some ways, lies in the tremendous learning that comes from failure.

“In a big corporation, you may fail and that may be the end of your career. In the startup culture, failure is a badge of honor. VCs even ask. They say ‘tell us about your failure.’ That is a stamp of approval. But they will also ask ‘what have you learned from your failures?’”

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. – Butzel Long attorney and shareholder David F. DuMouchel, who Chairs the firm’s Corporate Compliance, Internal Investigation and Criminal Defense practice, will serve as a panelist during the 2018 Midwest Securities Law Institute Course at Michigan State University College of Law on October 12, 2018. He will participate in a panel presentation titled, “SEC Enforcement. Update.” Other featured panelists include: John Birkenheier and David J. Havermaat, Securities and Exchange Commission.

DuMouchel’s practice is limited to white collar criminal defense, defense of corporations and individuals in criminal and civil antitrust matters, professional licensure and criminal health care, IRS investigations of both taxpayers and professionals, SEC enforcement of corporate executives fraud, public corruption, as well as grand jury investigations, internal corporate investigations and compliance.

Notably, DuMouchel was recently elected to the first Board of Directors of the Federal Community Defender of Eastern District of Michigan.

DuMouchel is a recipient of the prestigious Leonard Gilman Award from the Federal Bar Association as the outstanding criminal law practitioner in the Eastern District of Michigan. He has been named by Best Lawyers as the “2010 Detroit Criminal Defense: White-Collar Lawyer of the Year.” Only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.” Notably, he has been listed in each edition of Best Lawyers in America since that publication began more than 30 years ago, including the most recent. Last year, and this, he was one of two Michigan attorneys ranked Tier One in White Collar Crime & Investigations by Chambers USA — The Client’s Guide. DuMouchel also has been recognized as one of the Top 10 Lawyers in the state of Michigan by DBusiness magazine and he’s also listed in Michigan Super Lawyers.

He has served as a member of the Rules Advisory Committee, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan and was a member of the U.S. District Court Committee on Magistrate Program Evaluation, and chaired the Federal Bar Association Criminal Defense Committee.

He was a member of the Advisory Committee which drafted the Restatement of Law Governing Lawyers of the American Law Institute, and is on the Member’s Consultative Group of the ALI Model Penal Code Sentencing Project.

In addition, he is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was a Director in 1981. He is a Master of Bench emeritus, American Inn of Court Ch. XI. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Michigan State Bar Foundation, as well as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and serves as a member of the Criminal Procedure Committee, and is a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers.

DuMouchel is a Life Member of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference. He served as a member of the U.S. District Court Magistrate Selection Committee in 2014, and was a member of the Judicial Advisory Committee to evaluate applicants for the U.S. Attorney and federal judicial appointments in the Eastern District of Michigan in 2010 and 2012.

DuMouchel is a cum laude graduate of Wayne State University Law School (J.D., 1975) and the University of Detroit (M.A., 1972).

About Butzel Long

Butzel Long is one of the leading law firms in the United States. It was founded in Detroit in 1854 and has provided trusted client service for more than 160 years. Butzel’s full-service law offices are located in Detroit, Bloomfield Hills, Lansing and Ann Arbor, Mich.; New York, NY; and, Washington, D.C., as well as alliance offices in Beijing and Shanghai. It is an active member of Lex Mundi, a global association of 160 independent law firms. Learn more by visiting www.butzel.com or follow Butzel Long on Twitter: https://twitter.com/butzel_long

TROY, Mich., Sept. 11, 2018 — Walsh will recognize business and community leaders Richard D. Aginian, David Provost, Alan C. Young and the DeRoy Testamentary Foundation at its annual Leadership Awards Dinner, which takes place at 6:30 p.m., Oct. 11 at The Townsend Hotel in Birmingham.

The annual Leadership Awards Dinner recognizes business and community leaders, distinguished alumni and individuals who have demonstrated exceptional service to Walsh. The event also benefits Walsh’s Leadership Awards Scholarship and Jeffery W. Barry Endowed Scholarship and has raised more than $2 million in scholarship funds since it began in 2000. Sponsors include Presenting Sponsor Chemical Bank as well as CareTech Solutions, Plastipak Packaging, Wealthcare Management Services and Ernst & Young.

The Walsh Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is Aginian, Walsh Trustee and Retired President & Publisher, Observer & Eccentric Newspapers. The Jeffery W. Barry Award for Educational Excellence & Community Service will be presented to Provost, President & CEO of Chemical Financial Corporation. The Walsh Distinguished Alumni Award recipient is Young (MST, Walsh ‘85), Managing Director and CEO, Alan C. Young & Associates. The President’s Award for Outstanding Partner in Education will honor DeRoy Testamentary Foundation, which helps fund programs that improve the lives of people in metro Detroit.

“Walsh is proud to recognize these outstanding individuals and organizations,” said Walsh President and CEO Marsha Kelliher. “As leaders in their businesses and communities, they have shared their expertise and talent in their commitment to Walsh. We are pleased to honor them while raising funds to help change lives and provide scholarships for deserving students to pursue their educational goals.”

For more information about reserving your seat at Walsh’s Leadership Awards Dinner and available sponsorship opportunities, please contact Gail Ball at 248-705-0287 or visit foundation.walshcollege.edu/LeadershipAwards.

ABOUT WALSH

Walsh is an all-business, private, independent, not-for-profit, fully accredited college offering undergraduate and graduate business and technology degrees, as well as certificate programs. Founded in 1922, Walsh is one of the region’s largest business schools and Michigan’s third largest graduate business school. Walsh has locations in Troy, Novi, Clinton Township and Port Huron, as well as online. Our nationally ranked programs integrate theory and application to prepare graduates for successful careers. Walsh degree programs include accounting, finance, information technology, management, marketing, taxation and other fields. For more information, please visit www.walshcollege.edu.

Walsh is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (www.hlcommission.org) and the Accreditation Council for Business Schools & Programs (www.acbsp.org).

Southfield, Mich.—September 24, 2018— Clayton & McKervey, a certified public accounting and business advisory firm helping closely held businesses compete in the global marketplace, will present “Using Industry 4.0 to Improve Accounting Performance” as part of Automation Alley’s ongoing Tech Takeover series sharing member expertise in various facets of Industry 4.0. The event will take place at Automation Alley on Wednesday, October 17 from 7:45 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and the presenters are Sarah Russell CPA, and Tim Finerty CPA, shareholders and leaders of the firm’s systems integrators practice.

As automation continues to revolutionize the economy, there has never been a greater opportunity to understand and take advantage of various cash saving strategies. According to Russell and Finerty, many thriving companies are leaving money on the table by not utilizing federal and state tax credits and incentives in the area of research and development that support Industry 4.0 adoption and growth.

“Real-time data, combined with an understanding of the impact of tax credits and incentives, can often make a business more nimble and competitive,” Russell said. “Our presentation is geared to business owners, CFOs and controllers who want to learn how they can uncover savings within their own organizations to fund future research and development activities.”

About Clayton & McKervey
Clayton & McKervey is a full-service certified public accounting and business advisory firm helping closely held businesses compete in the global marketplace. The firm is headquartered in metro Detroit and services clients throughout the world. To learn more, visit claytonmckervey.com.
###

Condor Detroit, a Detroit-based car sharing startup, aims to bring flexibility and convenience to daily drivers, offering month-to-month car subscriptions with no long-term commitment. Founded by metro Detroit native Tarun Kajeepeta, the service features a simple, digital interface for customers to book a personal car for immediate use. While Condor Detroit fills an obvious need for shorter term visitors and travelers to the area, Kajeepeta is quick to emphasize that a subscription is a great alternative for many car lessors and owners as well.

To reserve a car, subscribers create an account online, select a vehicle package and answer some basic questions about their driving history. After selecting a delivery location, time and making a first month’s payment, Condor Detroit will deliver a car directly to the customer. Customers may keep the car as long as they like and can cancel at any time with 30 days notice.

“A car subscription is the natural evolution of a car lease, removing the cumbersome shopping process and long-term commitment. Our goal is to bring the convenience and flexibility of a car subscription to all Detroiters, and offer an attractive alternative to long-term rentals for businesses and individuals,” said Kajeepeta.

Electric scooters and bike shares increasingly are offering up alternatives for short trips in Detroit’s urban center. For workers, shoppers, or visitors, MoGo and Bird create affordable last-mile solutions to supplement public transportation and private vehicle use. Bedrock employees are pioneering autonomous mobility through Ann Arbor-based startup May Mobility to move from parking garage to office building through an initiative that began on June 27.

From autonomous shuttles to bike share programs and “blended” models that combine various transportation methods, Michigan residents and people all around the world have access to more ways to get around than ever before.

Mobility innovations have the potential to create economic opportunity for disadvantaged populations, but if social equity isn’t a priority during the planning phase, it may just create more options for people who can already afford to get around in traditional ways, says Tierra Bills, assistant professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at the University of Michigan.

People from affluent families that have passed wealth from generation to generation “can buy themselves out of any negative from large transportation plans,” Bills says.

“Social equity is about providing benefits to those with the greatest needs and making sure that those groups who have been historically marginalized are paid close attention and benefitted first, compared to members of society who are more affluent,” Bills says. “We need to make sure we are serving those with the greatest need first.”

In a “transportation desert” where transit options are few and the main way to get around is by automobile, low-income individuals either can’t afford a car or spend a lot of money on maintaining a car, hindering their efforts to keep a job and “move up the social ladder,” Doshi says.

A policy brief on transportation equity put out by AARP notes that “the poorest fifth of Americans spend 42 percent of their annual household budget on automobile ownership, more than twice the national average.”

AARP also notes that workers who have access to reliable and efficient public transportation spend about 7 percent less of their budget on transportation, so programs that improve public transit and blended modes of transportation can play a key role in social equity.

To ensure that disadvantaged populations benefit from new transportation plans, they must be included in the planning process, Bills says. If they aren’t considered, tech companies are likely to promote the new transportation services and routes that make them the most money, not the ones that best benefit the population they’re serving.

“When we have an equitable way of planning for transportation infrastructure that focuses on those with the greatest need, it tends to result in transportation improvements that will benefit a broader range of transportation users,” Bills says.

“We need to get more people who are traditionally left out of those considerations to a place where they can can access the same opportunities.”

Transportation studies and pilots in southeast Michigan

City and county government officials are learning that old methods of transportation, such as fixed-route bus lines, are no longer the best option.

Representatives from the City of Detroit, the State of Michigan, and the business and nonprofit sectors recently collaborated on a Detroit Mobility Innovation Initiative, brainstorming with a consultant over 12 weeks to generate four to eight ideas worthy of implementation.

Garry Bulluck, deputy chief of mobility innovation for the City of Detroit, says they tried to think outside the box. Ideas ranged from systems that maximize parking efficiency by allowing visitors to reserve a parking spot, to infrastructure that would make the existing bus system more efficient.

Earlier this year, NAVYA, a French company specializing in autonomous electric vehicles, began manufacturing driverless shuttle buses at a plant in Saline, a small town outside of Ann Arbor.

The French company secured the 25,000-square-foot facility last summer, with help from Ann Arbor SPARK and the Michigan Economic Development Corp., but its relationship with the Great Lakes State goes back to 2015.

NAVYA was among the delegation of French startups and entrepreneurs to participate in the 2015 Ubimobility, an annual event that showcases their innovations to prospective American car manufacturers and others. Ford Motor Co., Fiat Chrysler Automotive and the University of Michigan have been among the American hosts. This year’s mission, which begins in Detroit and wraps up in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, comes to the Motor City on June 3.

NAVYA’s participation in Ubimobility four years ago led to a partnership with the University of Michigan’s Mobility Transformation Center, now known as Mcity. Mcity is a U-M-led, public-private R&D center working to advanced connected and automated vehicles. The first NAVYA shuttle was introduced in North America at Mcity, where it is used for research and tours of the Mcity Test Facility. At Mcity, the university used NAVYA’s driverless shuttle buses, capable of carrying up to 15 people, for research and self-guided tours. U-M is expected to use the autonomous buses on North Campus this spring.

“As result of that relationship there became conversation about where to locate a U.S. assembly plant,” said Phil Santer, senior vice president and chief of staff for Ann Arbor SPARK. “They looked at Chicago and other places. We made the pitch for why they should be in Michigan or Ann Arbor.”